What Am I, a Deer? by Polly Barton review – shyness, obsession and the joy of karaoke

The feverish interiority of a young woman abroad is captured with offbeat wit and disarming candour in the first novel from the translator of Butter

The Given World by Melissa Harrison review – a stunning tale of rural life for an era of ecological crisis

Eerie omens haunt this absorbing group portrait set over six months in an English village

One Leg on Earth by ’Pemi Aguda review – a powerfully eerie portrait of Lagos

A young pregnant woman is assailed by dark visions of sisterhood in a novel splicing eco-horror, cosmic distress and ideas of the monstrous feminine

‘I wanted it to feel both Shakespearean and like Jay-Z’: debut author Sufiyaan Salam on masculinity, rap and meeting Stormzy

Bringing Manchester’s Curry Mile to vibrant life, the #Merky prize-winning author’s cross-genre work focuses on the lives and language of young British men. He discusses identity and inspiration

Homebound by Portia Elan review – a Cloud Atlas-like puzzle-box novel

From 1980s Cincinnati into the interstellar darkness, the stories of four women interconnect across the centuries in a gentle hymn to found families

A Rising of the Lights by Steve Toltz review – a darkly funny take on the male loneliness epidemic

A miserable misogynist is on a quest for redemption in Toltz’s fourth novel, which fizzes with dynamic prose but struggles to engender empathy for its protagonist

Hey, Good Morning, How Are You? by Martina Hefter review – a hit in Germany that falls flat in English

The premise of this novel about a ballet dancer who baits love scammers into conversation is great – but the story feels overwritten and underfelt

Devotions by Lucy Caldwell review – short stories that are frightening, passionate and comforting too

The Northern Irish writer explores music and family, memory and duty in this stunning collection of sharply observed tales

Having Spent Life Seeking by Kae Tempest review – painfully earnest tale of trauma and transition

An ex-offender searches for meaning and beauty in the second novel from the spoken-word performer

This Dark Night by Deborah Lutz review – Emily Brontë’s world

Tactile details and a no-nonsense approach make this biography a refreshing change from more lurid fare

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout review – readers will delight in these new characters

The Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton author branches out with the tale of a Massachusetts teacher haunted by trauma

‘It’s still a no-go area’: German author Matthias Jügler on the trauma surrounding the GDR’s ‘stolen children’

The reaction among officials in Germany to his bestselling novel has been hostile. As Mayfly Season is published in the UK, its author explains why

Newly released letters reveal JD Salinger’s wariness over ‘second-rate reviewers’

Exclusive: Author asked to remove reference to his ‘Jewish-Irishness’ from book jacket of The Catcher in the Rye

The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke review – a compelling debut of mental meltdown

A young woman’s dissociation from reality and her road to recovery are vividly rendered in this striking novel

David Malouf will always be one of the world’s great writers. I will always be grateful to him

Malouf’s astounding talent was to remain lucid and attentive in his language, while imbuing his worlds with a sensuality that was subtle but deeply felt